


The Threat

by Friendlylycanthrope



Series: Let's Talk About It [2]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Gen, let Adora have soldier friends, short fic, takes place early in season one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:15:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23814454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Friendlylycanthrope/pseuds/Friendlylycanthrope
Summary: A horde soldier? In Bright Moon? It's more likely than you think...
Series: Let's Talk About It [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1714624
Comments: 9
Kudos: 110





	The Threat

**Author's Note:**

> Okay you know that one General they always have in the show who doesn't have a name but does have a scar across her face? I'm taking her. I call dibs. Her name is Renee Abner and she is married to the hot rebel with giant red horns and they have two adopted kids. Change my mind. 
> 
> But yeah, I will be utilizing Abner much more in later chapters as a recurring character. So this is kind of her introduction. It starts out rocky but they build a relationship of mutual respect.

Castle Bright Moon had security, and General Renee Abner was determined not to let them become the type of security that lets threats get by easily. She kept her guard on their toes with frequent training, she had a full network of informants all over Etheria, and she herself had been involved in the rebellion since she was a little girl. She had her hands full with the teleporting princess that was her charge, usually with sneaking off and getting into minor trouble, but it was handled. Sneaking cookies turned into spying on meetings, which turned into sneaking out on dangerous missions, and it was becoming increasingly frustrating to keep the royal family safe. All she wanted was to keep the queen and the princess safe, and in the castle was the safest place for them. 

That is, until they decided to take in a stray enemy soldier. Not even as a prisoner, but as some sort of honored guest. No way was she going to let this threat slip in and take advantage of their hospitality with some sort of trap and risk hurting the Queen or the Princess. 

Renee kept a close eye on Adora, and made sure that she knew it. Adora was smart, and used to having the squint of disapproval over her shoulder. She had trouble adjusting to life outside of the Fright Zone, but it wasn’t made any easier by the guards giving her suspicious looks all the time. Whenever she walked by a group, they would cease talking and watch her until she disappeared. There was never a moment of the day that there wasn’t a robed guard in whatever room she was, starting with her walk from her room to breakfast and tailing her the whole day. 

But then again, that was during the day. 

Adora knew that what they told her in the Horde was wrong, and evil. But she couldn’t so easily let go of everything she learned. And that included rigorous training at the start of every day. It was a routine she could count on, something to give her structure in this alien new lifestyle, something that she could still control. It eased her mind while strengthening her body, she needed the routine like she needed to breathe. 

She would wake before the morning's moon rise, and start with stretches. Then she would do the strength training, and do as many push-ups, crunches, and pull-ups on a good curtain rod as she could manage within her set time. Once this was complete, she would embark on a quick 5K run in time with the day moon rise. Only after all this would she be done with her warm ups, and return to her room to shower and change in time for breakfast. 

Breakfast and lunch were casual in Bright moon, and more along the style of the cafeteria in the fright Zone. Dinner on the other hand, was held as a family with the Queen, whenever they could. She would always arrive before Glimmer and Bow, and always waited for them to start eating, usually because she wasn’t sure what food was if it wasn’t in the form of a pasty gray bar, and needed to watch them eat in order to learn the custom way for each new food she learned about. Today was no different, they hadn’t arrived yet. 

A hand clapped on her shoulder from behind, an unfamiliar touch that reminded her Shadow Weaver, and she went rigid to attention after a shiver. Sweat formed at her hairline. 

“Adora.” The owner of the voice came into view, hand still on her shoulder. It was the general of the guard, the one with the scar across the bridge of her nose. She looked down at Adora with dark eyes from under her helmet. Adora was still at attention, not moving or speaking. The general raised an eyebrow. “What’s the matter, not hungry?” Adora could tell it was not meant to be answered, but she was trained to answer all questions from a superior officer in a timely manner, it was the only way she could respond, when spoken to. 

“Yes, ma’am.” She said with a false confidence. The general squinted suspiciously. 

“Well then let’s talk.” She finally released Adora’s shoulder, and motioned for her to sit down at one of the tables. Two other guards were already in position there, but they had no food in front of them. They had prepared for this. Adora did as instructed, and sat upright and stiff at the bench, the two other guards at either side of her. The general sat on the opposite side. 

“My name is General Renee Abner. I command the royal guard of Bright moon castle.” She started, removing her helmet to place on the table. Her raven hair came down around her back. “Do you know what my job is?”

Adora gulped. 

“Yes ma’am.” General Abner didn’t seem to like that, since she answered anyway. 

“It’s up to me to evaluate and in some cases eliminate anything that may threaten the Queen or the Princess.” She said. “I’ve guarded two generations of princesses in Bright Moon. It’s not always an easy job. We have to be on the lookout for armies, assassins, spies, anyone or anything that could threaten the life of the Queen or the Princess that are our charges. Do you know how many assassination attempts have failed here in Bright Moon, Adora?” She leaned on to the table, her bare arms coming from the robes and showing their powerful muscles, aged with scars. Adora would have admired her strength if she wasn’t being threatened. 

“No ma’am.” Sticking hard to her military manners were all that was keeping her level right now. 

“All of them.” General Abner said evenly. “But it isn’t the war arriving at Bright Moon that we have to worry about. It’s the more…. Quiet threats.” She seemed to be investigating something on her hand nonchalantly while she went on. “The coups. The untrustworthy advisors. The angry diplomats. Even the humble beggars that come seeking refuge in these very walls.” At that she glared back at Adora again. Her shivers were gone, replaced by waves of panicked heat running over her body. “The Queen is known across Etheria as a gracious host and a humble servant to the people. But if they have something to hide, I always get to it before they can do their dirty work. The traveling diplomats often carry poisoned daggers, the beggars seeking refuge from the rain always leave their quarters at night with a crossbow, and I’m the one they meet at the other end of their steel, every time.” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “The Queen will be gracious, but I will root out traitors faster than you can say traitor because the safety of the Queen and the Princess will always be my top priority. Do you understand, Adora?” 

“Yes ma’am.” Adora tried to swallow her anxiety but her mouth had gone dry. The general seemed satisfied, and leaned back again. 

“A horde soldier, an exceptional captain, suddenly coming to Bright Moon? Well you have to understand how we might have our suspicions.” She continued, her voice dripping with venom. Adora could feel the sweat roll down her back, but remained rigid. “You haven’t made a move yet, but I will keep watching you. Just in case there’s some sort of…. Accident, that might leave the Queen or the Princess vulnerable. We’ve been watching your moves already, and you’re going to have to answer for your suspicious behavior.” 

“Yes ma’am.” The general grinned. She reached into her robes and removed a stack of small papers, with Adora’s habits written down from their invisible watching. 

“We know you run out in a hurry and run back to your room before dawn. Where are you going.”

The idea of saying more than three words worried Adora, who at the moment wasn’t sure if she was going to survive this meal without the sword. Her mind raced for no reason, even though she knew she was completely innocent. 

“Training.” She said. It was clear they wanted more. “In the Horde, we regularly run in the mornings to strengthen stamina and health.” Did people not run as exercise here? How was she going to explain that?

“Do you meet up with anyone during these runs.” They weren’t questions. She was just saying it like she knew the answer already, and found it irritating that Adora would say otherwise. 

“No.” She forgot to add the Ma’am after. If this were Shadow Weaver, her magic would already be wrapping around Adora to restrict her every movement, even her chest from heaving, preventing her from sucking in air. Right now, even with no magic, seemed familiar to that sensation.

“Are you in contact with any person or group outside of this castle.” 

I wish I was Adora thought guiltily. She still hadn’t been able to get through to Catra, and worried what Shadow Weaver was doing to her in her absence. If she could only get her to defect as well, at least she would have some tie to her past in a totally different world. 

The guard on her right suddenly jostled her with an elbow to the side. 

“Answer the General!” She grunted. 

“No,” she said. “I have no contact outside of Bright Moon.” 

Their interrogation came to an end before General Abner would have liked, but none too soon for Adora. 

General Abner saw the doorway to the cafeteria over Adora’s shoulder. In it, Bow appeared. He spotted Adora quickly and walked to their table, much to Adora’s shaky alarm. 

“Morning Adora!” His sunshine smile radiated through his morning grogginess. “Makin’ some friends? Oh hey Renee, how’s the family?” 

Renee’s icy glare melted as soon as the archer showed his face, and Adora couldn’t tell if it was all an act of not.She stood from the table, as did the two guards cornering Adora. 

“Happy and healthy Bow. You should visit for dinner some time, we haven’t seen you in a while." She looked around back at Adora. “We should get back to training and shifts. Keep this rogue out of trouble!”

She joked with Bow and they laughed, but the daggers in her eyes seared right through Adora’s suspicions. 

“You haven’t eaten yet, have you?” Bow said to Adora when they were alone. He nor Glimmer knew how uncomfortable she was about food. 

“No sir.” She mumbled. Wait, shit. She mentally shook off the military conduct. Bow was smart, he caught on. But he was smart enough to know not to push Adora. 

“Let’s eat, Glimmer should be here soon. Big day today, there’ll be a meeting soon.”

“Wait, did she say training?” Adora asked as she shook the last of her anxiety from her mind. 

“Yeah the guards get a training room downstairs, Renee works em pretty rough. What are they serving today?”

“Uh, yellow.” Adora answered with embarrassment. She did not know this food. (Bow told her it was eggs. Adora learned that she liked eggs.) 

The next morning, Adora changed her plans. Her watch was confused to observe her up before dawn, as usual, but rather than exercising in her room before her run, she went to the lower levels of the castle to the guard quarters. 

Renee was there, holding a punching bag for another woman as she assaulted it in a quick flurry. Others were in workout gear or in robes, with a line of lockers on the wall available to change. Two doors lead to showers. The far wall had windows looking out on the shallow bay in front of the castle, from lower than the throne room. 

Some guards noticed her coming in, stopping their weights or other training. General Abner was the last to notice. 

“Do you mind if I take a round?” Adora asked the woman who was previously hitting the bag. She was short, but stocky, and reminded her of Lonnie. Adora did some quick calculations if she could take her in a fight. The odds didn’t look good, but thankfully, it wasn't necessary. The woman stood up straight as she eyed Adora up and down, then grunted and went to the showers. 

Adora faced Renee, who was wearing sweatpants and a sleeveless shirt. Barefoot, reminding Adora of Catra. She had to stop thinking about her squad. 

“Do you mind?” Adora tried to sound confident, but she was scared. She came here unarmed and alone, surrounded by an organized group of tough soldiers that hated her-- she didn’t even blame them, it was their job. 

Renee said nothing in response, but took her stance again. The other guards also continued to exercise, keeping one eye on the pair. Adora began punching the bag as she had in the horde. She fell into her regular rhythm, lost in sweat and stance, almost forgetting why she came. 

“What’s your intent?” Renee finally said. Adora took a break from her punches, only about a second and a half as she readjusted her stance so she was coming more from her left than her right, then continued. 

“Training.” She said. “Just like you.” There was another loud pause between them. 

“Training for what?” 

“For training.” Adora said. Her beat on the bag slowed down slightly as she considered the question. “Apparently I’m supposed to be She-Ra or something.”

“Don’t think that’ll get you any special treatment.” Renee scowled. Her body leaned against the bag hard as Adora’s pace became faster. 

Adora had thought that at least this way, she could still get her training in, and General Abner would have the comfort of watching and knowing that she didn’t have any outside contacts. She had done this as a favor, extending the olive branch, but she still felt suspicion watching her back.

“You have a family?” She finally ventured. She finally looked over at Renee, who was glaring back at her from around the bag. 

“Are you trying to get information out of me? You won’t.” Abner answered. Adora had to think hard of something to say that wouldn’t spark suspicion. 

“Fine. Maybe some time, you’ll trust me.” Adora resorted back to her swings. She began to grow out of breath. 

“Switch” Renee said. Adora loosened her stance and braced herself against the bag. Renee, in turn, bent her knees and raised her fists towards the bag. 

“And you?” She grunted. Adora was having trouble with the power of her punches against the bag. Was she showing off?

“Me what?” Adora asked. 

“Family.”

“Nope.” 

“What do you mean nope?” Adora grit her teeth. 

“No family. No contacts. Nobody coming for me, if that’s what you wanted to know.” Adora answered. “Burned those bridges... Switch”

Renee was relieved to switch after her showing off had worn her out quicker than usual. Adora took up her punching. 

“You can’t have no family.” Renee objected. The harsher she spoke, the softer she became on the inside. She had a soft spot for orphans. 

“Well maybe I did.” Adora grunted. She circled around the bag as she thought for words, then continued. “Fellow cadets… Commanding officers…. But then I left that all behind.” Adora said with resolve. When she looked at Renee around the bag, her eyes were looking away, unfocused, thinking. They both leaned out of their stance, relaxing a bit. 

“But your entire life?”

“As long as I could remember.” Adora said flatly. She needed to think of something, she didn’t want pity, and certainly didn’t want to think about how much she left behind, the people she left behind. It was not her strategy to get any sort of sap story to earn her favors with them, the very idea made her uncomfortable.

“At least, some things are familiar here. Like training.” She put one hand on the bag and the other wiped the sweat off her brow. “Just keeping strong, at least I can stick to what I know. And if I come here, you won’t have to waste so much time and energy tailing me.”

“Considerate of you.” Renee walked over to the lockers, and tossed a small towel to Adora, as she used a similar one herself. “I suppose it would benefit both of us to allow you to continue training here. But don’t expect any special treatment.” 

***

Adora continued to visit the gym every morning. Days and weeks went by, Adora got to see the world on her travels to Salineas, Dryl, Mystacor. When she was away, she focused on the mission, but at the castle, she never missed a day, even when she got hurt. Adora learned that the guards were mainly women, with only a few men. They were mainly humans of various kinds, with a few exceptions, but hardly as much diversity as she saw in the horde.   
Adora would regard General Abner as a superior officer always, as she did with the Queen. Abner started to slowly realize that Adora really didn’t pose a threat, and that even more than that, she was just a kid who grew up mainly on her own. She wasn’t used to companionship, and she always acted on what she knew was right.

By and by, Adora proved her intentions enough that Renee started to trust her, even if she was still outwardly cold and glaring. They began saying hi to each other in passing through the halls. Adora usually hung out with Glimmer, and Bow when he was there. Adora learned the names of the other guards that she trained with. Like a boiling frog, the changes in their relationship were almost imperceptible through time. 

Adora sat at breakfast with Renee once again, but this time they talked openly and honestly. Renee took a photograph out of her wallet to show Adora. 

“Their names are Lenore and Link. And that’s my wife, Ingrid.”

“They’re so cute! And I feel like I’ve seen her before…” Adora said, focusing on Ingrid in the photo. She was a massively tall and muscled woman, with red skin and wide horns framed by curly black hair.

“Hmm, well you did sort of meet once…” Renee with a smile as she drank her water. “Do you remember the first time you got here, and you stumbled into that camp near the castle?”

“And you chased me with torches and pitchforks? How could I forget?” Adora handed the photo back. 

“Would you remember a beautiful giant red woman trying to plow you down?” Adora squinted as she concentrated on the memory. She could remember the woman tearing down like a bull before crashing into a stack of barrels. She was also present when She-Ra arrived before the Queen for the first time.

“With the horns? That was her? What a terrible first impression!” Renee laughed. 

“I was taking her some lunch on my break when you showed up. Then we had quite a story to report to the Queen. Who knew.” 

“Yeah that was a difficult day…” Adora mused. “But your kids,”

“Safe back at home, no worries. They wish they could have seen you.” Adora’s plate was cleared, as she never left food uneaten, but she remained to listen rather than start her day. “We adopted them three years ago. We were taking reports from a group of refugees and they were orphans. We weren’t married then of course. Poor little Link, he didn’t start talking until a year later. Trauma, I think. Anyway, Bow loves to babysit them, they love to terrorize him.”

“Yeah, that sounds familiar. Rogelio, um, a guy from my squad, he uh,” She was reminded of the barracks again, every day, no matter how hard she tried to suppress her attachments. Light Hope told her it would make her stronger, but she couldn’t let go of certain things. Besides, she was always careful not to bring it up around the general. She didn’t know what her rank was here, but Renee was a general, so she must be a superior. 

“Adora?” Renee snapped her out of it. “I think I need to clear something up. I may have lied to you a while ago when we first didn’t trust you.”

“About what, general?”

“I told you that my first priority was to the Queen and the Princess. And by charge, yes, they are my wards. I would give my life in the line of duty.” She gently felt up to the scar across her face. “But if I’m honest. They come first. Family always does.” 

Adora was confused. She didn’t know what to say. Renee picked up on it, and tried to explain. 

“What I’m trying to say is, I get it now. It must be hard to leave your whole life behind. A family, even if it was one you made yourself. Even if it was a bad place to be, it’s okay to miss them.”

Adora sighed. 

“I do miss the Fright Zone sometimes. It was always rough but we had each other… I just don’t want to have to face them on the battlefield. But proving myself to you and the Queen and everyone here, it all depended on my turning against them completely.”

“That’s rough, buddy.” Renee said. She calculated her words carefully. They were both soldiers, neither of them wanted to discuss tough situations more than they had to, and they wouldn’t know how to comfort each other even if they wanted to. It was exactly what Adora needed; hanging around Bow and Glimmer they kept trying to get her to open up about her feelings and her past, but it was uncomfortable at times. The more she looked at the past through the lens of the present, the more she realized that her once great childhood was actually tainted by abuse and propaganda. It was a relief to hear someone finally say that what happened, happened. And that was fine. 

“Thanks, general.” Adora said, her eyes bright, as she stood from the table. She grabbed her plate, and saluted. 

“Call me Renee.” 

Later, Adora would note in her journal: 

Day 34 in Bright Moon.   
It is a relief to be around fellow soldiers. They remind me of the FZ. Exercise and training continue. Have gained the trust of general Abner. Everything here is different--the food, the people, even the beds. But I can still train with fellow soldiers. It’s a small comfort. Especially since everyone thinks of me as She-Ra without considering that I was a soldier first, my whole life. Abner sees that.   
Notes for later:  
-Ask Glimmer what peanut butter is. Re: peanut butter cookies. (See appendix for ‘cookies’)  
-Revision: Aunt does not mean superior officer. Ask about this later.

**Author's Note:**

> And that's how I'm introducing Renee Abner into my story. She'll assuredly be back. So will Adora's routines and training, not that it is nearly as important.
> 
> In terms of updates, I might as well make them quick while these pieces are short. I'll separate more as they get longer so it doesn't clog up too much. 
> 
> Yeehaw.


End file.
